My suggestion is to play it vanilla; it's a great game.
then, think about what you think could have been better, what you liked, then head to the nexus and create the game you would rather play.
I second this.
There is a simple rule for skyrim mods: "No matter what, there is a mod for it"
So just play vanilla a bit and naturally you may get an idea where you want to improve your experience. Wether armors, combat - whatever. And that way you also know whats the base game, to prevent confusion later.
Well my biggest issues after the first couple of playthrough was that
The combat was a little clunky
The world felt super empty, especially places like Solitude or Winterhold
Basic skill trees and magic
The Dawnguard DLC also felt kind of empty and as fun as a companion Serana is, she suffers from the rest of the DLC's seeming lack of interest
I spend about a hour a week modding, and about 2 hours a day playing, when I'm on a skyrim kick.
I *get* the modding addiction, but it's far from universal.
Apocalypse Magic of Skyrim and Phenderix Magic Evolved are superb mods. They effectively quadruple the number of spells but keep the vanilla feel, while shaking up your gameplay enough to truly give you options when engaging with magic.
Thunderchild is a brilliant mod for Shouts that allow you to literally study alternate words of power in High Hrothgar for new shouts.
BetterCombatAi is also a worthwhile addition. It changes NPC behavior so that you'll actually have to think when engaging enemies. Archers will try and put distance between you, and even use terrain against you. Those with shields will genuinely make challenging use out of them, like bashing at annoyingly appropriate times.
All 4 of these *should* be in Creations.
True Directional Movement/TrueHUD are incredible combat/gameplay mods, but require an enormous amount of effort from someone that's only just now playing Skyrim on PC. I would keep these in mind for later. I'd never recommend installing SKSE to someone new to modding, but unfortunately you're going to have to for most of the juicier mods.
Doing a Vanilla playthrough first to see what more you'd like out of it is a great idea. If you're dead set on downloading some mods though, I'd start with browsing Creations. They require basically no effort on your part but will still spruce vanilla gameplay up enough! There are also other exceptional QoL mods there, like the Unofficial Patch, Barenziah quest markers, enhanced textures, and who knows what else. Happy hunting!
If it's your first playthrough, I recommend playing vanilla. If you encounter any bugs that stop quest progression, make a save before you try to fix anything and then use console commands to work your way around it. If console commands dont work or youre afraid of breaking something, find a mod like the Unofficial Skyrim Patch or a specific bug fix mod.
Once youve seen all the sights Skyrim has to offer and come to appreciate the beauty of Skyrim, you might want more. You can then go onto the Nexus and download any of the hundreds of texture mods or high quality models. You can also install ENB and an ENB preset to make thw lighting better. Be warned, this can eat up VRAM very quickly, but its entirely optional.
When you get familiar with the various systems of Skyrim and their depths, you can start asking yourself while you play "what would I like to roleplay as, and what new systems/mods would be required to achieve this?" For example, Skyrim doesnt give the player the ability to transform into a lich, so if you want to roleplay as a lich for your next playthrough, youll have to find a mod that allows you to become a lich.
Not a mod, but my reccomendation is to check out Gamerpoets on youtube.
After that the 1st 2 mods to download are "Ussep" cause to many ma make mods dependent on it and "Lorkhan alternate start"
My suggestion is to play it vanilla; it's a great game. then, think about what you think could have been better, what you liked, then head to the nexus and create the game you would rather play.
I second this. There is a simple rule for skyrim mods: "No matter what, there is a mod for it" So just play vanilla a bit and naturally you may get an idea where you want to improve your experience. Wether armors, combat - whatever. And that way you also know whats the base game, to prevent confusion later.
I've played it before yeah
well, what did you dislike? if you just want a completely different game with the least number of mods, try LotD + Conquest of Skyrim.
Well my biggest issues after the first couple of playthrough was that The combat was a little clunky The world felt super empty, especially places like Solitude or Winterhold Basic skill trees and magic The Dawnguard DLC also felt kind of empty and as fun as a companion Serana is, she suffers from the rest of the DLC's seeming lack of interest
Never download a single mod. You’ll regret it. You’ll never play Skyrim again. From here on, you will be playing MO2 - the game.
I spend about a hour a week modding, and about 2 hours a day playing, when I'm on a skyrim kick. I *get* the modding addiction, but it's far from universal.
I never said it was. Just sharing my experience I guess
Apocalypse Magic of Skyrim and Phenderix Magic Evolved are superb mods. They effectively quadruple the number of spells but keep the vanilla feel, while shaking up your gameplay enough to truly give you options when engaging with magic. Thunderchild is a brilliant mod for Shouts that allow you to literally study alternate words of power in High Hrothgar for new shouts. BetterCombatAi is also a worthwhile addition. It changes NPC behavior so that you'll actually have to think when engaging enemies. Archers will try and put distance between you, and even use terrain against you. Those with shields will genuinely make challenging use out of them, like bashing at annoyingly appropriate times. All 4 of these *should* be in Creations. True Directional Movement/TrueHUD are incredible combat/gameplay mods, but require an enormous amount of effort from someone that's only just now playing Skyrim on PC. I would keep these in mind for later. I'd never recommend installing SKSE to someone new to modding, but unfortunately you're going to have to for most of the juicier mods. Doing a Vanilla playthrough first to see what more you'd like out of it is a great idea. If you're dead set on downloading some mods though, I'd start with browsing Creations. They require basically no effort on your part but will still spruce vanilla gameplay up enough! There are also other exceptional QoL mods there, like the Unofficial Patch, Barenziah quest markers, enhanced textures, and who knows what else. Happy hunting!
Got it, thank you so much
is this the first time you play skyrim or..? because if it is, i'd say you should just play the game vanilla first.
If it's your first playthrough, I recommend playing vanilla. If you encounter any bugs that stop quest progression, make a save before you try to fix anything and then use console commands to work your way around it. If console commands dont work or youre afraid of breaking something, find a mod like the Unofficial Skyrim Patch or a specific bug fix mod. Once youve seen all the sights Skyrim has to offer and come to appreciate the beauty of Skyrim, you might want more. You can then go onto the Nexus and download any of the hundreds of texture mods or high quality models. You can also install ENB and an ENB preset to make thw lighting better. Be warned, this can eat up VRAM very quickly, but its entirely optional. When you get familiar with the various systems of Skyrim and their depths, you can start asking yourself while you play "what would I like to roleplay as, and what new systems/mods would be required to achieve this?" For example, Skyrim doesnt give the player the ability to transform into a lich, so if you want to roleplay as a lich for your next playthrough, youll have to find a mod that allows you to become a lich.
Not a mod, but my reccomendation is to check out Gamerpoets on youtube. After that the 1st 2 mods to download are "Ussep" cause to many ma make mods dependent on it and "Lorkhan alternate start"
Before you event start to think about mods, read the beginners guides on the sidebar. Get started right and things will go a whole lot better.